State controller's race: Final batch of ballots maintain Yee's slim hold on second place

SACRAMENTO -- A final batch of votes counted in Lake County appear to have put Board of Equalization member Betty Yee ahead of state assemblymember John Perez and into the second ballot slot for the state controller's race in November.

In final numbers released late Monday after the county's mail-in ballots were counted in their entirety, Yee held a grand total of 878,191 votes statewide. Perez's updated statewide tally was 877,707 votes.

Only 484 votes separated the two Democratic opponents, narrowing the 861-vote difference that stood between them in the previous, incomplete count.

It was unclear Monday night if Perez's campaign would ask for a recount. The second-place winner will go on to face Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Rpublican who received more than one million votes in the June 3 election.